JP2007123673A - Vibration-proof mechanism for article storage container - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress the transmission of compounded vibration as micro-vibration from a driving source to a rack member, in addition to vibration due to an inertial force in the case of acceleration/deceleration during conveyance, to a container such as an FOUP or the like to be conveyed by a driving means such as a suspended pattern elevating conveyance carrier, which is equipped with the rack member by which a plurality of substrates such as wafers are supported so as to be freely inserted/extracted; and to prevent the damage of a substrate to be supported by the rack member. <P>SOLUTION: An FOUP main body 3a and a rack member 3e installed in the FOUP main body 3a are configured as different bodies, an elastic body 3g is interposed between the FOUP main body 3a and the rack member 3e, and the rack member 3e is configured so as to be elastically supported by the FOUP main body 3a. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention inserts vibrations, which are received during a transfer process, into a container such as a FOUP that is transferred along a predetermined path by a suspended lift carriage (hereinafter referred to as an OHT carriage), a roller conveyor, or other similar transfer means. The present invention relates to an anti-vibration mechanism for an article storage container for suppressing transmission to articles such as wafers and liquid crystals that are detachably stored.

In recent years, in order to perform necessary processing in a series of processing stations that are arranged in a clean room in a process or along an annular orbit between processes and perform various processes (thin film formation, photolithography, cleaning, etching, inspection, etc.) of the wafer. In many cases, an OHT carriage is used to transport a container (FOUP) containing the wafer.
The substrate processing process is managed by a tag attached to the FOUP in which the substrate is accommodated, and the contents of the tag are sequentially updated as the substrate processing process proceeds. Substrate processing steps are specified by tag information attached to the FOUP, and subsequent necessary processing is managed by a computer based on the tag information.

As described above, in transporting a substrate that sequentially receives different types of processing one by one at a plurality of processing stations, an airtight state is maintained during transfer, and a front door is provided to receive a predetermined processing at the processing station. A FOUP is used that is open and configured so that substrates can be inserted and removed by a robot one by one.
The configuration of a FOUP that has been widely used conventionally is as shown in FIG. In FIG. 5, reference numeral 31 denotes a main body, which has an open surface 31a, and side flanges 31b that enable manual conveyance are provided on both side surfaces that are located on both sides when viewed from the open surface 31a. A flange 31c is gripped by a finger portion of an OHT carriage, which will be described later, whereby the main body 31 and the lid body 32 attached to the open surface 31a are moved up and down integrally.

31d is a shelf member that forms an uneven shelf that can hold a large number (for example, 24) of substrates (wafers, liquid crystals, etc.) horizontally inserted and removed by a robot (installed at a processing station) (not shown) on the open surface 31a. is doing.
The shelf member 31d is integrally fixed to the FOUP main body 31 or is integrally formed with the FOUP main body 31.

The lid 32 is held in an airtight state with respect to the open surface 31a of the FOUP main body 31 when the FOUP main body 31 is conveyed, and prior to processing of the substrate stored in the processing station, The key member 32 a is unlocked (in the state shown in the figure) by a locking or unlocking means (not shown) provided in the processing station and separated from the FOUP main body 31.
Next, processing of all the substrates is completed at the processing station, and the FOUP main body 31 storing the processed substrates covers the open surface 31a with a lid 32 prior to transfer, and the key member 32a is locked or unlocked. Locked by means.

By the way, when transferring a substrate such as a wafer, the substrate may move in the substrate support portion of the substrate transport container, causing the support member and the substrate to collide, friction, etc., resulting in a defective substrate. There are many.
For this reason, for example, a wafer carrier disclosed in the following Patent Document 1 used for transporting between processing apparatuses and storing wafers before being sent to the next process has been developed.
In other words, as shown in FIG. 1 in Patent Document 1, this wafer carrier is first wafered one by one in a series of grooves 3 formed on the inner wall of the carrier body 2 as shown in FIG. The peripheral edge of 9 is sandwiched.
Next, as shown in FIG. 1 (c), the tongue piece 5 formed of a flexible material presses the wafer 9 against one side surface of the groove 3, and the wafer 9 and the carrier body 2 are brought together. A configuration is shown in which the wafer 9 is maintained in a stable posture in which the wafer 9 is not displaced in the groove 3.

On the other hand, when transporting a board | substrate with a traveling trolley, there exists following patent document 2 as a prior art aiming at the vibration proof with respect to a board | substrate.
As is clear from FIGS. 1 to 3 and the related description, the technique disclosed in Patent Document 2 is based on the support unit 8 that houses the substrate 1, particularly with respect to transport of the substrate that tends to be large. The vibration transmitted from the traveling cart unit 7 that supports the suspension 8 in a suspended manner is suppressed.
That is, corresponding to the increase in size of the substrate 1 to be transported, the substrate 1 is arranged in the vertical direction in the support portion 8 as shown in FIG. 2, and the traveling carriage portion 7 and the support portion 8 are elastically supported. Is done.
A specific means for this is provided with an anti-vibration mechanism 22 that absorbs vibration in each of the three directions constituting the three dimensions of vertical, traveling, and orthogonal to the traveling cart section.
Japanese Patent No. 3212890 JP 2004-359436 A

Conventionally, for example, a FOUP shown in FIG. 6 is used for transporting a substrate such as a wafer that receives different processes one by one at a processing station.
In this FOUP, since the main body 31 and the shelf member 31d are fixed in a predetermined arrangement, vibrations received by the FOUP main body 31 during conveyance are directly transmitted to the shelf member 31d.
Therefore, the plurality of substrates placed on the shelf member 31d in a horizontal state so as to be detachable one by one are also directly subjected to the vibration that the FOUP main body 31 receives during transportation.
This vibration is a combination of the vibration received by the inertial force generated during acceleration / deceleration of the FOUP main body and the slight vibration generated from the drive unit, and the occurrence thereof cannot be avoided.
Thus, the vibration applied to the shelf member 31d may cause the substrate to jump up from the substrate placement surface of the shelf member 31d, or to generate friction between the substrate placement surface and the substrate, resulting in a defective substrate. is there.

Next, the wafer carrier disclosed in Patent Document 1 as the prior art of the present invention is capable of preventing collision and friction between the wafer and its supporting surface against various vibrations received during the wafer transfer process. Application to the present invention is difficult.
That is, the present invention is based on a configuration in which a shelf member is installed in a container such as FOUP so that a large number of substrates (wafers, etc.) can be inserted and removed in a horizontal direction. In addition, a large number of wafers cannot be displaced with respect to each support surface, and the application is different from the technique of Patent Document 1 in which wafers are individually taken out from the container except for the wafer transfer process.
Considering the application of the technique of Patent Document 1 to the present invention, the size of the entire container is increased or the mechanism is complicated due to the wafer holding / releasing mechanism, and the mechanism is based on the current FOUP specification. There is a mismatch with the transfer equipment, making it difficult to put it into practical use.

On the other hand, the conveyance device disclosed in Patent Document 2 stores a plurality of materials (substrates) 1 in the material (substrate) support unit 8 in the vertical direction, and includes a traveling carriage unit 7 and a material (substrate) support unit 8. In the meantime, a vibration isolating mechanism 22 that absorbs vibration in the three directions of front and rear, left and right, and upper and lower with respect to the traveling direction of the traveling carriage unit 7 is provided.
With this configuration, the vibrations described in the following items (A) to (C) are generated when the traveling carriage unit 7 travels with respect to the material (substrate) that is housed and transported in the material (substrate) support unit 8. The substrate is accurately suppressed by the vibration isolation mechanism 22, and the substrate can be prevented from being damaged by the vibration applied to the substrate.
(B) Fine vibration generated by the drive unit of the traveling carriage unit 7 (b) Vibration generated by inertia force generated during acceleration / deceleration of the traveling carriage unit 7 (c) Vibration generated by wind pressure generated when the traveling carriage unit 7 travels

Certainly, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 2, transmission of various vibrations generated from the transport carriage unit 7 of the transport device to the transported substrate 1 in the process of transporting the substrate in the transport device is suppressed, and the vibration of the substrate 1 is suppressed. Damage caused by is prevented.
However, in the technique of Patent Document 2, the transport carriage unit 7 having a drive source and the material (substrate) support unit 8 that holds the material (substrate) 1 are in a connected state via a vibration isolation mechanism 22. The connected state cannot be released.
Accordingly, a plurality of materials (substrates) 1 are collectively attached to the material (substrate) support portion 8 at a specific location, and taken out from the material (substrate) support portion 8 at another specific location by the transport carriage unit 7. Therefore, it cannot be applied to the present invention based on insertion and removal one by one.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a FOUP or the like having a shelf member that is transferred by a driving means such as an OHT carriage and supports a plurality of wafers and the like in a horizontal state so that they can be inserted and removed one by one. In a container, a wafer supported by the shelf member by suppressing the transmission of these vibrations to the shelf member when receiving the slight vibration received from the drive source in addition to the vibration due to the inertial force during acceleration / deceleration during the transfer of the vessel As a means for preventing damage to various articles including a substrate such as a substrate, a technique for elastically supporting a shelf member by a container is provided.

Means and effects for solving the problems

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the vibration isolating mechanism for an article storage container according to claim 1 is transported by a conveying means that travels along a predetermined path, and the article to be conveyed and a shelf that supports the article to be conveyed. In the container for storing the member, an elastic member for suppressing transmission of vibration received by the container to the shelf member during operation of the conveying means is disposed at an appropriate position where the container supports the shelf member, and the container is The shelf member is supported via the elastic member.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the shelf member on which the article to be transported is placed can receive the vibrations as they are even when the container that holds the shelf member receives vibrations by the OHT or other transport means. Receive in a suppressed state without receiving.
Therefore, there is no possibility of damaging the object to be transported by elastically supporting the shelf member with respect to the container and appropriately defining the specification of the elastic body that exerts the vibration transmission suppressing action between the container and the shelf member. Thus, it is possible to safely transport the object to be transported without damaging it.
Moreover, in order to suppress the transmission of vibrations received from the conveying means to the article to be conveyed, only a very simple vibration isolating means provided in the container is employed, so that transfer that is based on the current FOUP specification is possible. Matching with equipment is easy to implement and easy to implement.

The vibration isolation mechanism for the article storage container according to claim 2 is the vibration isolation mechanism for the article storage container according to claim 1, wherein the object to be conveyed is a wafer and the shelf member inserts and removes the wafer in the horizontal direction. The container is configured to be freely held, and the container storing the shelf member is a FOUP.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, if the vibration transmitted from the transfer means to the FOUP is transmitted to the wafer as it is, the wafer is damaged. Even in such a case, the wafer placed on the shelf member in the FOUP so as to be detachable can be accurately prevented from receiving a vibration that may cause its failure.

An anti-vibration mechanism for an article storage container according to claim 3 is the anti-vibration mechanism for an article storage container according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a plurality of protrusions are provided on each of the upper and lower end surfaces of the shelf member. A series of holes sized so that the protrusions can be loosely fitted are formed at predetermined positions on the upper and lower surfaces of the container, and the protrusions are supported by the corresponding holes via elastic members, respectively. .
According to the invention according to claim 3, the effect of the invention according to claim 1 or 2 to be cited is
Positioning of the shelf member with respect to the container such as FOUP is accurately controlled by the relative positional relationship between the protrusion provided on the shelf member side and the hole formed on the container side, and is positioned between the hole and the protrusion. The necessary vibration isolation effect can be obtained by selecting the material and size of the elastic member.

The vibration isolation mechanism for an article storage container according to claim 4 is the vibration isolation mechanism for an article storage container according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the elastic member is interposed between the upper and lower end surface portions of the shelf member and The member is elastically supported.
According to the invention according to claim 4, the effect of the invention according to claim 1 or 2 to be cited is
Defects of articles to be transported such as wafers with a very simple configuration in which elastic members having the necessary vibration-proofing function are interposed between the upper and lower ends of a general-purpose shelf member and the upper and lower ends of the container facing this Can be prevented accurately.

The vibration isolating mechanism for an article storage container according to claim 5 is the vibration isolating mechanism for an article storage container according to claim 4, wherein the elastic member is a leaf spring.
According to the invention according to claim 5, the effect of the invention according to claim 4 of the cited destination can be reduced, and the man-hour required for fixing the shelf member to the container can be reduced.

The vibration isolating mechanism for an article storage container according to claim 6 is the vibration isolating mechanism for an article storage container according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the conveying means travels in an annular track between processes. It is the suspension type raising / lowering conveyance apparatus which carries out.
According to the invention according to claim 6, the effect of the invention according to any one of claims 1 to 5 cited above tends to increase the inertial force generated at the time of starting and braking, particularly with high-speed conveyance. In addition, since the drive unit and the container such as FOUP are detachable, vibrations received by an article conveyed by the OHT carriage in which a vibration absorbing member cannot be interposed therebetween can be suppressed.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
First, the outline of the drawings related to this embodiment will be described. FIG. 1 is a side view for explaining the relationship between a FOUP to which the present invention is applied and an OHT cart carrying the FOUP, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the main part of the FOUP according to the present invention.

Next, the relationship between the FOUP to which the present invention is applied and the OHT carriage as the FOUP conveying means will be described with reference to FIG.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a traveling rail, which shows a part of the OHT carriage 2 in the process or between the processes. The OHT carriage 2 travels while being restricted by the traveling rail 1 by traveling wheels and guide wheels (not shown) in the guide / drive unit 2a.
At this time, the required power is obtained by well-known means such as providing a driving motor for the traveling wheel, or a DC linear motor for providing a secondary side and a primary side on the rail 1 side and the OHT carriage 2 side, respectively. It is done.

Reference numeral 2b denotes an alignment mechanism that adjusts displacement in a direction orthogonal to the traveling direction of the OHT carriage and a rotational direction of the traveling rail 1 of a container (FOUP) described later. Two belt belts 2c are provided on the front, rear, left and right in the traveling direction of the OHT carriage 2, and are controlled to be extended and contracted by an elevating mechanism 2d provided in the OHT carriage 2 so as to elevate and lower the elevating body 2e. And this belt | belt-shaped belt 2c has embed | buried the electric wire (not shown) which transmits / receives the electric power supply and control signal to the raising / lowering body 2e inside.

Reference numeral 2f denotes a gripper member, which is one of the components of the elevating body 2e, and is supported so as to be displaceable in the illustrated left-right direction. Reference numeral 3 denotes a FOUP as an object to be transferred, which includes a main body 3a, a lid 3b, a flange 3c that is gripped or released by the operation of the gripper member 2f, a side flange 3d that is used as a manual transfer means, and a plurality of wafers 4 Are each configured with a shelf member 3e that is detachably mounted from the opening of the main body. The shelf member 3e is provided with a series of shelves 3ex in which the wafers 4 are placed one by one without contacting each other. Next, the shelf member 3e is elastically supported inside the FOUP 3, and the FOUP 3 is OHT3. A configuration for suppressing the transmission of vibration received when receiving the conveyance / lift control by the carriage 2 to the shelf member 3e will be described with reference to FIGS.
2 and 3, portions corresponding to the components disclosed in FIG. 1 are assigned the same reference numerals to avoid duplication of explanation.

The structure disclosed in FIG. 2 is displayed including the internal mechanism of the FOUP 3 with the lid 3b (see FIG. 1) removed, 3f is a series of holes, and the upper and lower ends of the shelf member 3e are opposed to each other. It is formed on the upper and lower parts of the FOUP.
Referring to FIG. 3 also, 3ey is a protrusion, which extends from the upper and lower end surfaces of the shelf member 3e, is provided at a position facing the series of holes 3f, and has a thickness that can be loosely fitted into the corresponding holes.
Reference numeral 3g denotes an annular elastic member that fills a gap formed by loose fitting between the series of holes 3f and the corresponding projections 3ey with a uniform thickness.

The annular elastic member 3g can be filled into a series of holes at any time before and after the assembly of the FOUP 3, but the fitting of the protrusions 3ey to the series of holes 3f must be performed before the assembly of the FOUP 3.
Further, by appropriately selecting the thickness of the annular elastic member 3g, that is, the length corresponding to the average gap around the projection 3g and the corresponding hole 3f, and the elastic coefficient of the material of the annular elastic member 3g, The degree of vibration transmission suppression in the member 3g is determined.

The degree of suppression of vibration transmission in the annular elastic member 3g may cause damage to the wafer 4 placed on the shelf 3ex of the shelf member 3e in consideration of the transport means (OHT carriage 2, roller conveyor, etc.) of the FOUP 3. It is not a good idea to increase the cost in order to obtain the suppression of vibration transmission more than necessary based on the fact that there is no such thing.
Further, a filler such as an adhesive may be applied to each of the inner and outer surfaces of the annular elastic member 3g according to the necessity of airtight maintenance.

Next, the operation of the embodiment disclosed in FIGS. 1 and 2 will be described.
First, for example, in an unillustrated stocker, unprocessed wafers 4 are sequentially placed one by one on each of a series of shelves 3ex of shelf members 3e installed therein, and the lid 3b is an opening of the main body 3a. Assume that the FOUP 3 in the locked state is in a standby state so as to be transferred to a predetermined processing station (not shown).
Next, when the belt-like belt 2c of the OHT carriage 2 that has traveled to the position of the FOUP 3 in the standby state is extended, the elevating body 2e is lowered to just above the FOUP 3, and the clipper member 2f grips the flange 3c of the FOUP 3.

Further, the belt-like belt 2c is wound up while the clipper member 2f holds the flange 3c of the FOUP 3, and the FOUP 3 moves into the OHT carriage 2 and travels to a predetermined processing station.
In this processing station (not shown), the belt-like belt 2c is unwound, the gripper member 2f is disengaged from the flange 3c of the FOUP 3, and the OHT carriage 2 moves to another FOUP conveyance.

The FOUP 3 which has been transferred to the processing station and disengaged from the flange 3c has the lid 3b unlocked, and the wafers 4 placed one by one on the series of shelves 3ex arranged one above the other in order. The station-specific processing is performed, and the FOUP 4 that has finished the predetermined processing is returned to the predetermined shelf 3ex again.
In this way, after all the wafers 4 have been subjected to predetermined processing and returned to the shelf 3ex, the lid 3b is locked, and the FOUP 3 is again necessary for the same operation as described above by the OHT carriage. It is transferred to another processing station or stocker.

By the way, the wafers 4 that are sequentially subjected to different processes at various processing stations need to be detachable from the series of shelves 3ex of the shelf member 3e, and are only placed on the shelves 3ex.
For this reason, if various vibrations generated from the OHT carriage 2, especially vibrations transmitted to the FOUP 3 due to the inertial force generated during acceleration / deceleration during traveling / lifting in the high-speed conveyance process, are transmitted to the shelf member 3e as they are. The wafer 4 placed on the shelf 3ex of the shelf member 3e is subject to impact due to splashing or friction with the shelf 3ex. If these degrees exceed a certain limit, the wafer 4 is damaged to such a degree that it becomes defective. To do.

However, as shown in FIG. 2, the shelf member 3e is supported by the FOUP main body 3a via the annular elastic body 3g. Therefore, even if the FOUP 3 is subjected to the traveling / lifting operation by the OHT carriage, the vibration does not occur. Even if it is difficult to cut off 100%, vibrations are suppressed so as not to damage the wafer 4 by selecting the size, material, etc. of the annular elastic body 3 according to the predicted vibration that the FOUP 3 receives. Can do.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a main part showing a modification of the embodiment. In FIG. 4, the FOUP 13 includes a FOUP main body 13a, a flange 13c, and a shelf member 13e as basic components.
A characteristic configuration is the means for supporting the shelf member 13e with respect to the FOUP main body 13a.
When this support means is described in detail, the upper and lower ends 13ey of the shelf member 13e not having the shelf 13ex are held by the elastic body 13g.
The elastic body 13g is fixed to a support portion 13ax formed at a position corresponding to the upper and lower end portions 13ey of the shelf member 13e.

When the FOUP 13 receives the vibrations through the flange 13c from the conveying means such as the OHT carriage by the configuration disclosed in FIG. 4, the vibrations are attenuated by the elastic body 13g at a rate corresponding to the characteristics of the elastic body 13g. .
Therefore, the vibration transmitted to the wafer (see reference numeral 4 in FIG. 1) that is detachably mounted on the shelf 13ex of the shelf member 13e is elastic even if it is difficult in principle to completely eliminate the vibration. By proper selection of 13g, the wafer can be suppressed to such an extent that it can be prevented from becoming defective.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a main part showing a modification of the embodiment. In FIG. 5, the FOUP 23 includes a FOUP main body 23a, a flange 23c, and a shelf member 23e as basic components.
A characteristic configuration is the means for supporting the shelf member 23e with respect to the FOUP main body 23a. More specifically, the supporting means will be described in detail.
The two end portions of each leaf spring 23g are joined to the shelf member 23e and the inner peripheral surface of the FOUP main body 23a, respectively.

In the above-described configuration, the shelf member 23e is elastically supported via the leaf spring 23g with respect to the FOUP main body 23a, and when the FOUP main body 23a is subjected to the traveling up and down action by the OHT carriage or other conveying means, The vibration received through the flange 23c is transmitted to the shelf member 23e after receiving a vibration suppressing action according to the elastic characteristic of the leaf spring 23g.
Therefore, even if it is difficult in principle to completely remove the vibration transmitted to the wafer (see reference numeral 4 in FIG. 1) that is detachably mounted on the shelf 23ex of the shelf member 23e, the leaf spring The proper selection of 23 g can be suppressed to such an extent that the wafer can be prevented from being defective.
The present invention can be applied to other transport containers that require countermeasures against vibration, such as a reticle transport container and a liquid crystal substrate transport container, in addition to the semiconductor substrate storage container that stores the silicon substrate.

It is a side view for demonstrating the relationship between FOUP to which this invention is applied, and the OHT cart which conveys the said FOUP. It is a perspective view which displays the internal structure of the FOUP main-body part which implemented this invention. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the main configuration of the FOUP according to the present invention. It is a schematic diagram for displaying the principal part structure in the Example of this invention. It is a schematic diagram for displaying the principal part structure in the other Example of this invention. It is a perspective view of the general purpose FOUP used as the foundation of implementation of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

2 ... OHT cart 3, 13, 23 ... FOUP
3e, 13e, 23e ... shelf members 3ex, 13ex, 23ex ... shelf 3ey ... projections 3g, 13g ..... Elastic body 23g .....

Claims (6)

In a container that is transported by a transporting means that travels along a predetermined route, and stores a transported article and a shelf member that supports the transported article,
An elastic member that suppresses transmission of vibration received by the container to the shelf member during operation of the conveying means is disposed at an appropriate position where the container supports the shelf member, and the container is configured to be the elastic member. An anti-vibration mechanism for an article storage container, characterized in that it is supported via The said article to be conveyed is a wafer, the said shelf member comprises the structure which hold | maintains the said wafer so that insertion or removal is possible in a horizontal direction, and the container which accommodated the said shelf member is FOUP. Anti-vibration mechanism for container for storing goods. A plurality of protrusions are provided on the upper and lower end surfaces of the shelf member, and a series of holes of a size that allows the protrusions to be loosely fitted are formed at predetermined positions on the upper and lower surfaces of the container. The vibration isolating mechanism for an article storage container according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the vibration isolating mechanism is supported by a corresponding hole. 3. The vibration isolating mechanism for an article storage container according to claim 1, wherein the elastic member is interposed between the upper and lower end surface portions of the shelf member and elastically supports the shelf member with respect to the container. 5. The vibration isolating mechanism for an article storage container according to claim 4, wherein the elastic member is a leaf spring. 6. The vibration isolating mechanism for an article storage container according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the conveying means is a suspended lifting and lowering conveying device that travels in an annular track between processes.

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